


Pale Blue Ribbon

by agrajag



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24096430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrajag/pseuds/agrajag
Summary: [Richie] was smuggling a PBR into the hospital. He wasn't sure why he thought the security would be as intense as, say, TSA. [H]e hadn't been to a hospital in years, so he didn't know how it was going to be, and he had been so worried about getting caught that he had shoved the beer down his pants. He may be hung, but he never looked like he was smuggling a beer can in his pants. It was a good look for him.(And now he was going to have to work that euphemism into his show.)
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	Pale Blue Ribbon

**Author's Note:**

> if you were looking for a fic based on a scene from tucker and dale vs evilwith a super nerdy bird fact, then this one is for you!

Richie couldn't remember the last time he had been in a hospital. It would have been poetic had it been one of the many times he had visited Eddie when they were kids, but Richie's life was not the independent romance movie he liked to daydream that it was. A very self indulgent past time of his, considering he had never made an attempt to steer his life in that direction. Of course, he now knew that not only did his regular, run of the mill internalized homophobia hold him back -- but there was that little thing where a space clown fucked him up, as well.

Anyway, hospitals might not have been his personal hang up, but he felt as if he was going to sweat through his shirt, he was so nervous. Not because he was the one who was sick and was worried about a diagnosis, but because he was smuggling a PBR into the hospital. He wasn't sure why he thought the security would be as intense as, say, TSA. Once again, he hadn't been to a hospital in years, so he didn't know how it was going to be, and he had been so worried about getting caught that he had shoved the beer down his pants. He may be hung, but he never looked like he was smuggling a beer can in his pants. It was a good look for him.

(And now he was going to have to work that euphemism into his show.)

But from the time he walked into the main lobby to the walk to the elevators, no one stopped him. He let out a sigh of relief once he made it to the floor Eddie was on since it was quiet enough that he was confident that he was in the clear. He hip checked Eddie's door open as he started to fish the beer out of his pants. (Because, damn, it was starting to get rather uncomfortable. And he didn't want it to be warm when Eddie went to take that first drink.)

"You going to say something first like, oh I don't know, hello? Before getting your dick out?" Eddie asked, and Richie almost dropped the can, thus ruining the surprise.

Well, the surprise was already ruined. Richie had been expecting Eddie to be asleep. He _had_ been asleep every other time Richie had arrived, giving him time to observe Eddie, watching the rise and fall of his chest and the way his eyelashes brushed against his cheeks, before lightly shaking him awake.

"Oh, hey Eds. How are you feeling? You're looking better. You're awake! That's good. Weening you off the meds, huh?"

Eddie smiled softly.

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better. Thanks for asking, Richie." It was perhaps too nice for them, but it was Eddie's response every time Richie asked him how he was doing. "Yeah, they're weening me off the morphine which means less sleeping. Although it also means I can now actually feel the pain. God, I'd hate to imagine how it felt at the beginning when I was high as a kite, but I'll take it. I'm alive, right? Anyway, you avoided answering _my_ question."

"Oh, uh, yeah. I promise I'm not getting my dick out. It was a surprise for you."

"Color me surprised," Eddie said sarcastically. It was obvious he was about to go in on Richie, but he started coughing.

It wasn't enough to consider it 'a fit' which eh had plenty of in the early days of his recovery, but it still hurt Richie to see him like that. God, he looked _so small_ in the hospital bed, and then add on how the couching wracked his whole body. He looked like every extra in a hospitl drama who wasn't long for this world, and Richie fucking hated it.

"Looks like I arrived just in time," he said, aiming for a joking tone. "What you need is something to quench your thirst."

"What? You have a water bottle down your pants?"

"Oh, Eds, you flatter me. It's not _that_ big." Eddie glared at him. "But no. Why would I bring water when that's free? Literally everywhere? I brought you something fun. So, uh, tada!"

Richie pulled the PBR out from behind his back and showed it off game show hostess style. Now that it was back in his line of sight, he could see that it was covered in condensation. God, he hoped it wasn't so warm that it was undrinkable. Eddie deserved a treat. Not wanting to waste any more time, he handed it to him quickly, but instead of cracking it open, Eddie just stared at it.

"Did you seriously bring me beer? Richie, I'm on pain meds. Did you even think about..." Eddie sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't drink this, but thank you."

"Hey! You said they were weening you off the meds! You can have a little. How about if we share it?"

Eddie rolled his eyes.

"You just want to get me drunk. Ugh, fine. But you're drinking most of it."

Eddie opened the beer and took the tiniest sip before passing it back to Richie. They shared the drink in silence for a couple minutes, since Richie hadn't exactly prepared any topics for discussion, having thought Eddie would be sleeping when he arrived. It wasn't awkward, however, and Richie could tell this was how he and Eddie had been before they forget everything. It was comfortable. It felt like home.

Of course, the memories to come back first had been _that_ summer, when Richie had been at his most annoying. You couldn't blame him, though, because for thirteen year old Richie, it was his best bet at hiding his huge, gay crush on Eddie.

(And his huge, gay crush on Michael J. Fox, but no one was going to catch on to that. Back to the Future was a great movie, so it was fine if he rented it from Blockbuster dozens of times.)

But as time passed, and hormones calmed down, Richie didn't have to pull as many pigtails. So to speak. Not that he didn't bust Eddie's balls given the chance, and he had fallen right back into that pattern as soon as he set foot into Derry. But now that Eddie was recovering, Richie was trying to be nicer. The beer hadn't been the first present he had given Eddie, although it _was_ the first that was more of a typical 'Richie' present. The awful, gaudy stuffed animals that he had bought at the hospital's gift shop judged him with their beady eyes, as if they knew he was internally insulting them. It wasn't his fault they were creepy, and he was surprised Eddie had them all on display.

"You're usually unable to shut up," Eddie said finally, before draining the last of the beer. "Did I throw you off? What with being awake when you got here? You seemed surprised to see me up and at it."

"Yeah, maybe a little bit. There's only so many things to talk about since Derry life isn't that interesting, but that just means I get more Eddie time, which is a plus."

"You've gotten so much 'Eddie time.' Everyone else has gotten back to their lives, and you're still here. I won't be mad if you go back to Chicago. Or wherever it was where your tour left off before Mike called."

"The tour doesn't matter. Those jokes sucked, and I have a lot of work before I can feel good about stepping foot on a stage again. So yeah, I don't really have much of a life to go back to. Not that if I did that would stop me from keeping you company if I _did_ have a life."

"Jesus Richie, could you stop pussy footing around?" Eddie asked and crossed his arms. "I know we almost died, but that doesn't traumatize you enough that you spend all this time in a fucking hospital for an old friend from middle school. _I_ almost died, Rich, and I don't want to be scared anymore. I don't want to waste anymore time. So fucking ask me out already!"

Richie choked on air and started coughing.

"'Ask you out?' What are we? Teenagers?"

"Do you always have to bicker with me? Like, we should have been doing this since we _were_ teenagers, so let me relive our childhood, dick."

"You make it sound like I already said yes."

"I know you're going to say yes. Do you do all of this..." Eddie gestured around his room to the stuffed animals, the bouquets of flowers, and the boxes of chocolates. "...for _all_ of your friends?"

"Uh, well, no," Richie admitted. It felt too much like a confession, and he still wasn't fully ready for that, so he then added, "Maybe Bill."

Eddie laughed.

"You better not be kissing Bill, too. Now get over here, since the only thing you haven't done yet is to kiss it better."

"You want me to kiss your side?"

"God, you're so stupid. Why do I even love you?" Eddie asked, shaking his head, but it definitely didn't sound like he actually regretted it. In fact, he was smiling more than he had been moments earlier. Holy shit, he _really_ did love Richie, didn't he? "I'm playfully joking about your insistent need to give me gifts thinking it does anything for my recovery. Just get over here and kiss me, you idiot."

"Okay, yeah. I can do that," Richie said.

It still took him a moment to gather himself and lean forward enough in his chair that he could reach Eddie. Thankfully, he had his bed elevated high enough that it was essentially a giant recliner, and Richie found himself face to face with him.

(With Eddie. With the man who he was pretty sure he still loved. With the man who he _definitely_ loved when they were kids.

And this man was asking Richie to _kiss him_.)

He could do this. He could...

Eddie sighed and, obviously getting impatient at Richie's frozen state, closed the gap between them himself. He captured Richie's lips in a bruising kiss. Yes, it was rather forceful, and it was dry too, since Eddie's lips were chapped. Why was that a thing that always happened to patients in hospitals? Probably because they were always cold. It also was awkward because Eddie tried to bring his hand up to rest against Richie's cheek, but he forgot that it was the one that had an I.V. coming out of a vein, and it was yanked back to his side.

None of that mattered, though. It could have even been a million times worse, and Richie still would have been in heaven.

It couldn't have been more than a few seconds before Eddie was pulling back and propping himself back up against the many pillows on his bed.

"Sorry. I may be doing better, but I still can't really do much physical activity without getting tired," he explained. "But once I'm out of here, we'll do that properly, alright?"

"Uh huh," Richie mumbled dumbly.

"And no more presents, Rich, okay? You already have me. You don't have to keep trying to woo me like an Eurasian Jay."

"Sure thing," Richie agreed and then, doing a double take, he asked, "I'm sorry. A what?"

Eddie laughed softly.

"You weren't so slick with the gifts. Stan may have made a comment last time he was here."

"Oh no. I'm never going to live this down," Richie said with a groan, as Eddie not so helpfully agreed with him. "Well, since I'm already promising all this other stuff, anything else you'd like to request while you have me here, Eds?"

Eddie pretended to think about it for a moment and then picked up the PBR can that had been abandoned on the little table that was attached to his bed, squished it effortlessly in his hand, and tossed it into the garbage can.

"Yeah. Don't bring any more PBR when I get discharged. I don't want our next kiss to taste like cheap beer."

"Cheap beer is a weird nickname for my dick, but whatever you want sweet cheeks. At least that way, you can see how the goods look without any help."

Eddie started spluttering and picked up one of his pillows so he could launch it at Richie's face. He started yelling about how that made no sense, how he should quit his job as a comedian, and once again questioned why he loved him. He made such a racket that a nurse came in to check on him and, seeing that he was perfectly fine, asked them to keep it down or Richie would have to leave if he kept riling him up. He promised to behave as his crossed his heart while Eddie apologized for his 'buffoon of a boyfriend' and then said heart stopped.

He was Eddie's boyfriend, now.

He knew Eddie requested no more PBR, but he had only promised not to bring it to the hospital. He was going to give Eddie _so_ much PBR in the future. It could only mean good things, right?

**Author's Note:**

> to my readers of total drama neibolt, i'm sorry it hasn't updated in a bit! my laptop died and although i could obviously keep writing in my notebook and just type it up later, the whole ordeal bummed me out and i didn't want to write a chapter that was going to not be as good as it could be (even if it's a silly thing and will continue to be). so i wrote this nonsense instead, which i'm not exactly proud of but i'm posting anyway. anyway, i am working on it now!


End file.
